I Don't Know You Anymore
by Winterbloom
Summary: Angsty Ginny songfic. Yes, another...Ginny's a bit older and far more jaded, and recounts her life to
1. Default Chapter

I Don't Know You Anymore

I Don't Know You Anymore

** **

**********

Yes, another dreaded songfic by yours truly.Please don't think this has anything to do with Shatter.If you do, you'll be desperately disappointed.This is just something random that came to me while listening to my Savage Garden cd around midnight.You asked for more Ginny, and here she is.She's always so angsty with me.I suppose we all are angst-ridden, we just don't know it yet.As I said in a conversation with Valkyrja, issues come part and parcel with the wand.And yes, the Muse is on the move…she can't seem to settle in this humidity.

Disclaimer: Everything recognisable as Harry Potter doesn't belong to me!It belongs to the most magnificent JK Rowling.I just fill the characters with angst and set them to music, honest.The song belongs to Savage Garden, those wonderful lads from Down Under.

**********

The answering machine picked up the call, and Ginny looked at it as she sat with a book in her hands.She was becoming more and more enamoured of the Muggle machine the longer she remained married.She brushed an errant curl out of her tired eyes, eyes that seemed hollow, even at 23.Muggle machines were handy, and carried no memories.She could pretend she was away.She pretended to be away a lot.

"You've reached the home of Alex and Ginny Hopewell.No-one can get to the phone, so leave a message and eventually, we'll catch up."

The light flashed, and after the tone, a voice began to speak."Ginny?It's Harry.I'm pretty sure this is the right number…Ron gave it to me.Anyway…look, I'm in England for a few days this week, today, Friday and Saturday.Could we possibly catch up?Please?There are a lot of things I should have said that I need to say now.It's important, Gin.Anyway, here's the number of the cell phone thing they gave me, 568-9005.Call me?"

I would like to visit you for a while  
Get away and out of this city  
Maybe I shouldn't have called but someone had to be the first to break

We can go sit on your back porch  
Relax  
Talk about anything  
It don't matter  
I'll be courageous if you can pretend you've forgiven me

Ginny stared at the answering machine, and pressed the button in a state of shock.The sound of Harry's voice filled the room once more, and she focused on it intently."He sounds so sad," Ginny murmured.Just the sound of his voice brought back so many memories.Hogwarts, Yule Balls, Christmases at the Burrow, stories told by the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room, kisses stolen in shadowed corridors.They'd grown up at Hogwarts, both of them.She was his best friend's sister, and once he learned to see her as more than that, once he understood her, they came together so naturally.It was as if she was meant to be by his side, made for it.So it seemed at the time.

  
_Because I don't know you anymore  
I don't recognize this place  
The picture frames have changed and so has your name_

Everything had seemed so right, Ginny remembered.Until yet again, Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, broke her heart.The first time it had happened, she had been so young, going to her first Yule Ball with him and feeling so grown up.She'd had the world's worst crush on him then, and when he lost interest in her at the Ball, it seemed as if her world had just shattered.Ginny realised she didn't know pain, didn't know what it felt like to have a dream crumble beneath her until much latter.When the rumours started to fly, when the accusations started, then her world crumbled.Harry and Hermione.He'd been cheating on her, perhaps for months.Apparently, after Hermione and Ron had ended things, she sought comfort in the arms of her best friend, and it had turned into something more.It was then that Ginny knew what it felt like to have the bottom drop out of her world.

We don't talk much anymore  
We keep running from the pain  
But what I wouldn't give to see your face again

She had picked up the pieces and carried on, ignoring him.People had called her the Ice Queen after a while, so effectively did she shut out the world.Harry didn't exist.Hermione didn't exist.Nothing existed except schoolwork and her family.And even her family was questionable at times.She just shut out the world, shut out everything that could possibly harm her.That was until Alex.He was a Ravenclaw, gentle where she was frozen, forgiving where she held a grudge, loving where she was cruel.Eventually, he melted her heart, and he won it.At least most of it.Ginny was tired of having her heart shattered, tired of trusting.But Alex was enough for her.The best she thought she'd do, and for once in her life, she listened to her mother.She married him.

_I know I let you down  
Again and again  
I know I never really treated you right  
I've paid the price  
I'm still paying for it every day_

She assumed Harry knew.Everyone knew.The Weasleys had managed to do well for themselves towards the end of her Hogwarts career, thanks mostly to Fred and George with their joke business.It was, if nothing else, a beautiful wedding, and everyone agreed that Ginny was a truly stunning bride.Her mother was slightly disappointed that the groom wasn't Harry.The Burrow wasn't the same without him, she'd complained.But Mrs. Weasley was never one to deny her daughter happiness, and when Ginny said Alex made her happy, that was enough for her.Ron fussed and fretted, in his own brotherly way, letting her know he cared enough to inspect the man he was letting his baby sister marry.All and all, everyone was happy at her wedding.Except her.

  
_So maybe I shouldn't have called  
Was it too soon to tell?  
Oh what the hell  
It doesn't really matter  
How do you redefine something that never really had a name?  
Has your opinion changed?_  
  


She put all her dreams away with the white robes she wore that April morning, tucked her hopes away with the dried flowers from the bouquet.Ginny was willing to settle for being safe from harm, she was willing to settle for being secure.Harry had promised her the world, and trampled on that promise.When Alex merely promised to be faithful, to protect her and provide for her, she believed him.Yet she was still empty somehow.No children in the house, no real passion, either.They were just two people, almost flatmates who happened to sleep in the same bed.When Ginny slept, and that was too rare to think on.Insomnia was just one of the things that kept her up at nights.Dissatisfaction, bitterness, and frustration…those were the easiest for her to name at least.Often times, Ginny wondered what her life had been like had she accepted Harry back.Had she listened to his version of the story.And time and time again, that ending seemed happier than the one she was living.

  
_Because I don't know you anymore  
I don't recognize this place  
The picture frames have changed and so has your name  
We don't talk much anymore  
We keep running from the pain  
But what I wouldn't give to see your face again_

_ _

And now Harry came back, just when she was thinking of him.Just when the emptiness of her house and her marriage and her life was threatening to consume her.Just when she missed him and was threatening to walk out on all her safety and security.She'd felt safe with Harry, too, but it had been something more daring, something edgy and special and wonderful.She'd felt complete.But how she missed him now, with an intensity that was almost physical.Just the sound of his voice, that was almost too much.She picked up the phone, her fingers dancing over the number pad, and she held her breath as it rang.

"Hullo?"

"Harry?It's me, Ginny.I…I got your message…"

_I see your face  
I see your face_

_ _

_ _


	2. Un-Break My Heart

** Un-Break My Heart**

**********  
I hadn't planned on continuing "I Don't Know You Anymore", but when 3 out of 7 reviews demand I continue in some form or another, I really can't argue. So, for those of you who begged, this is one ending for "I Don't Know You Anymore". It's the ending that makes me happy, since I'm a sucker for happy endings. And since it's my fic, you just have to deal with my ending. * cue evil laughter *

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters belong to their creator, the stunningly brilliant JK Rowling. To you we owe all praise and adoration. "Un-Break My Heart" is sung by the incomparable Toni Braxton.  
**********

Harry could scarcely believe that Ginny was calling him back, that she was even speaking to him. Did it mean he was forgiven? "Look, Gin, give me an hour, please? We can meet for coffee or something…name the place, anywhere. I just need to see you…I can be there in twenty minutes, sure. I'll be waiting." He pressed the button on the cell phone, the ridiculous Muggle device he'd come to fancy so much, and pulled his coat tighter against the cold drizzle that was just beginning to fall. So much had happened in a year…too much. 

_ Don't leave me in all this pain   
Don't leave me out in the rain   
Come back and bring back my smile   
Come and take these tears away   
I need your arms to hold me now   
The nights are so unkind   
Bring back those nights when I held you beside me_

He remembered Hogwarts, remembered being there with Ginny, remembered really appreciating Ginny. And how all it had taken was a situation too easily misunderstood and malicious gossip to pull her away from him. Hermione had been upset, and she needed a friend. What was a kiss on the forehead and a long talk in the Astronomy Tower one night had turned into him cheating on Ginny for months the next morning. Hermione was mortified, Harry was angry, but Ginny…Ginny just stopped caring. She stopped talking to him, snubbed him with an efficiency that wounded him to the quick. And Harry walked away. 

_ Un-break my heart   
Say you'll love me again   
Undo this hurt you caused   
When you walked out the door   
And walked outta my life_

But he wasn't going to walk away, not now. Not when he had his chance. Quidditch didn't give him much of a chance to do anything, to even have a personal life, never mind something this complicated. But with a well-chosen and feigned illness, some Muggle clothes and an arrangement with the Team Captain, Harry was out on the streets of London when the rest of the wizarding world was focused on Quidditch. He shoved his hands in his pockets and headed towards the small café Ginny had requested. He knew she lived in the wizarding section of London, and that it wasn't far, but he was closer. He was willing to wait. After all, he'd waited this long. 

_ Un-cry these tears   
I cried so many nights   
Un-break my heart   
My heart_

Harry sat, playing with the phone, his eyes fixed on the door, oblivious to the café au lait that sat untouched in front of him. He set the phone down and took off his glasses to clean them. When he put them on and looked up, there she was. Harry felt a lump in his throat as he watched her come towards him, dressed elegantly in a grey sweater and black trousers, her hair a fiery mane around her face, just as he remembered it. But her eyes, eyes previously so full of life seemed hollow almost. So sad. "Hullo, Harry," she greeted him softly, sitting across from him. "It's been a while." 

_ Take back that sad word good-bye   
Bring back the joy to my life   
Don't leave me here with these tears   
Come and kiss this pain away   
I can't forget the day you left   
Time is so unkind   
And life is so cruel without you here beside me _

"Ginny," he began, and he felt as if his voice would desert him. But stubbornly, Harry pressed on. "Ginny, I need to tell you so many things. About what happened with Hermione and I, about you and I…if there can be a you and I again. I want there to be a you and I. I'm not whole without you." 

_ Un-break my heart   
Say you'll love me again   
Undo this hurt you caused   
When you walked out the door   
And walked outta my life  
_

Ginny shook her head. "It isn't so easy anymore, Harry. You can't just waltz in here and expect me to drop my life for The Boy Who Lived. I'm not the little girl who had a crush on you anymore. I'm not the young woman who was head over heels for you anymore, either. I'm married now, Harry. To a good man who loves me, cherishes me and is more than I deserve. I trust Alex." 

_ Un-cry these tears   
I cried so many nights   
Un-break my heart   
My heart  
_

Harry protested. "No, Ginny, no. You don't know the truth, you wouldn't listen to me then and I hope you'll listen now. Nothing happened between Mione and me. Nothing. She was so upset with breaking up with Ron, and we went up to the Astronomy Tower to talk, to get away from everyone. Ron was skulking around the Common Room, she needed to get away from him. And what people told you was snogging and fooling around was a kiss on the forehead when I sent her to bed. That's it, Ginny. I swear it, on the souls of my parents, I swear it." 

_ Don't leave me in all this pain   
Don't leave me out in the rain   
Bring back the nights when I held you beside me _

"More promises, Harry? Are these going to mean anything to you when some girl comes crying and she looks like she needs you more than I do?" Ginny burst out suddenly, feeling tears prick at her eyes, roll down her pale cheeks. "I need you, Harry! You came back when I needed you, you always come back when I need you. I need you now, I'm crying and senseless and I'll stay that way if it means I can be with you again." 

_ Un-break my heart   
Say you'll love me again   
Undo this hurt you caused   
When you walked out the door   
And walked outta my life _

Slowly, Harry got out of his chair, and went to stand behind her. Wrapping his arms about her, he buried his face in her hair, murmuring her name softly. "Hush, now...my poor Ginny..." Why had he ever let her walk out of his life? Why hadn't he fought tooth and nail for her? Why? He hated to see her cry, always had. And now she was pulling at his heart in a way no-one else ever could, not Hermione, not anyone. 

_ Un-cry these tears   
I cried so many, many nights   
Un-break my _

"I won't let you go, I don't want to be alone, I don't..." Ginny sobbed into his arms, breathing in the scent of him. She'd missed that. "I'm alone now, all alone. Alex left me last week," she confessed tearfully. "Don't you leave me, too, now that you've come back." Harry inhaled sharply. She hadn't told him that, hadn't told him what everything had come down to in the end. 

_ Un-break my heart   
Come back and say you love me   
Un-break my heart   
Sweet darlin' _

"It's all right, Ginny. I'm here now, right here. And I'm not going anywhere, not without you, not ever again. That's a promise I'll keep, a promise you can hold on to," Harry told her gently, just holding her, holding on to her. "I won't ever leave you alone again." 

_ Without you I just can't go on   
Can't go on_


End file.
